Undercover Dish Mystery

Lilah Drake's Covered Dish business discreetly provides the residents of Pine Haven, Illinois, with delicious, fresh-cooked meals they can claim they cooked themselves. But when one of her clandestine concoctions is used to poison a local woman, Lilah finds herself in a pot-load of trouble ... After dreaming for years of owning her own catering company, Lilah has made a start into the food world through her Covered Dish business, covertly cooking for her neighbors who don't have the time or skill to do so themselves, and allowing them to claim her culinary creations as their own. While her clientele is strong, their continued happiness depends on no one finding out who's really behind the apron. So when someone drops dead at a church Bingo night moments after eating chili that Lilah made for a client, the anonymous chef finds herself getting stirred into a cauldron of secrets, lies, and murder-and going toe to toe with a very determined and very attractive detective. To keep her clients coming back and her business under wraps, Lilah will have to chop down the list of suspects fast, because this spicy killer has acquired a taste for homicide ...

From the author of The Big Chili comes her latest mystery about caterer and cook Lilah Drake who is up to her elbows in deadly trouble during the Christmas holidays ... The Christmas holidays are one of Lilah's favorite times of the year, filled with friends, family, and, of course, tons of food orders for her covered dish clients. But Lilah's Yuletide cheer ends when she sees a most Grinch-like crime: the murder of a Santa in a school parking lot. It turns out the deceased Kris Kringle was a complicated tangle of naughty and nice, with a long list of people who might have wanted him dead. And whoever did the deed wants to make sure that Lilah keeps quiet. Now, Lilah will have to team up with her former fling, Detective Jay Parker, to unwrap the mysteries of a deadly Christmas killer and stay alive long enough to ring in the New Year ...

Secret chef Lilah Drake has a killer casserole to deal with in the latest Undercover Dish mystery from the author of Cheddar Off Dead ... Customers trust Lilah Drake to keep her mouthwatering meals under wraps, but when a millionaire meets his untimely end, some sinister secrets become the main course ... Spring is right around the corner, and with the warmer temperatures come plenty of food requests from Lilah Drake's covered-dish clients. Lilah pulls out all the stops with a sweet new casserole for the birthday party of Marcus Cantwell, a wealthy curmudgeon who has some angry ex-wives and more than a few enemies. When he's found face down in Lilah's casserole, it's anyone's guess as to who might have wanted the old man dead. A possible new heir to Marcus's fortune adds some unexpected spice to the investigation, but Lilah fears that the old adage is true, and "the proof is in the pudding."

It's summer in Pine Haven, and Lilah is enjoying life: she's in love, she's a popular chef and caterer, she's surrounded by good friends. But her perfect summer has some troubling distractions. The normally ebullient Angelo Cardelini, Lilah's ex-boyfriend and current boss, has appealed to Lilah for help with a problem in his love life. The always enthusiastic Serafina Drake, Lilah's sister-in-law, has embroiled Lilah in the problems of her friend, a historian named Enzo Montanini. Enzo is researching an Italian serial killer known as The Lake Killer. Enzo's theory is that the Lake Killer is hiding in America-specifically in Pine Haven. Though Lilah thinks this theory unlikely, she is troubled to hear that Enzo's office has been vandalized, and that someone has tried to kill his assistant. Suddenly Lilah and her boyfriend, Detective Jay Parker, investigate many disparate elements which seem to converge in one place: Pine Haven University. Can a notorious murderer be walking the streets of Pine Haven, Lilah's shady, sleepy town? This question begins to dominate Lilah's life as she and Jay find themselves on a very dangerous trail that might bring them face to face with the Lake Killer.